The diminutive feline smiles at the fluffy newcomer and her squiggling, snarling brood. "HiMo Growlers are an......interesting....bunch." He scowls abruptly at the Alpha female, and breaks into a loud, angry sounding growling and hissing. She begrudgingly leaves off biting her fellow wyrms, and sulks into the panda's tail fluff. Chuck turns and addresses the panda female again. "Sorry, we have one main rule in the Glade. No violence of any kind. She knows that, and will abide by our laws while within these borders, or will be ejected." He fixes an unwavering stare directly at the Alpha HiMo, who astoundingly turns away and refuses to make eye contact with the smaller male. Chuck nods once and turns his attention back to you.

"The high mountain clans each have different markings to designate their members. The pointed T looking mark belongs to the Treetop clan. They don't den in caves like most other HiMo, but instead build nests in tree hollows, giving them a better view of their territory.The single line with the two dots above it is the Two Sisters Clan. Their territory is marked by an area of flat stone with two large, rounded boulders sitting on top, they refer to these two rocks as The Sisters. They're currently one of the larger HiMo clans, due largely to the alpha pair's.....ahem...rather active attempts to grow their population.The zigzag line that Bathory wears is the mark of the River clan, who as their name suggests den near a river tributary and are expert fishers.

After getting my answers previously, I had gone back home to make appropriate living spaces for my incoming wyrms. While waiting for the new babes to arrive, I had come across many and began growing a much larger squirm. I decided it was time to get some more questions answered and headed back to Chuck with a few of the new babes. A rose gold tesla was nuzzled into the corner of my neck, unsuccessfully trying to acquire my jewlery. Stonehenge and Andes were curled up on top of my head while Bubbles, a pretty angler with blue speckling was hiding in the darkness of my hair.

Re-stumbling into the glade, I notice some new people wandering about and asking questions. I settle in just in time to hear a Chuck answer a light pink red panda. Slightly distracted by learning about something new, I decide to switch my questions and save my personal ones for later in light of more knowledge.

"Hello again Chuck, I haven't come across HiMo's before only your standard Growlers; are they rare? Are they very different from Growlers? Just going off of the last question how many different clans are there?" I bounce excitedly; happy to absorb more about this new world. Stonehenge and Andes get jostled out of their nap, but so used to the action, all I really get is a disapproving look from Andes and an almost laughing chirp from Stonehenge before they settle back in.

Chuck looks up and nods a knowledgement to the newcomer before continuing.

"You're actally just in time. The last known clan is the one with 4 dots in a line as their clan marking. That would be the Tracker clan, expert trackers with a larger than usual number of scouts. Ivy, though she doesn't carry the clan marking, is part of that clan, as is her former Alpha Raven.

As some HiMo Handlers have realized, the two red markings on the chin of a female mean Alpha. A single mark means former alpha, and one that has lost the leadership of their clan through ritualized combat.

The figure 8 looking mark is literally made by another HiMo dipping their snout in the dye and mashing it onto the tribe mate who wears the mark, and is the mark of an omega. This wyrm tends to be the clan scapegoat whenever anything goes wrong, and usually have quite a submissive personality.

3 lines together that look a bit like claw marks show the accomplishment of a hunter who has been instrumental in taking down large, dangerous prey, usually another carnivore. 2 lines simply means a valued pack hunter, worthy of respect.

The dot within a circle, is the mark of a shaman in training. When accompanied by a red band around the lower jaw, it marks the shaman as having gone on their journey to the spirit world, which is the final test before being considered a full clan shaman.

The red band fully encircling an ear is worn by HiMo with the Pitch Black trait, to warn their clan mates that the wyrm is a dangerous, unstable berserker. Valued in battle, PB HiMo are given a wide berth and often sent in ahead of general clan members to break front line defenses."

Chuck shakes his head slightly and shrugs. "There's a LOT more markings, all with different meanings, but those are the ones I personally know the translation for. I'm by no means fluent in HighMountain Growler. It's hard getting any of them to agree to a civil conversation for any length of time, since I'm not a HiMo, and moreover, am a male.The HiMo, as a subspecies of regular Growlers, are more aggressive, territorial, and invasive than their parent species. It branched off as the result of habitat distruction, which drove packs of Growlers higher up into the upper mountainous regions. They tend to range in the Rocky Mountains, which run all the way from British Columbia down into New Mexico. Wherever they claim terrotory, they drive out the existing Growler populations. They are still fairly rare, but with each clan establishing territory and driving out the native Growlers their populations grows. Non HiMo Growlers are being driven into smaller and smaller territories, and if this growth continues will have a definite impact on the regular Growlers as a species."

The wolf came crashing into the glade chasing a small orange swirl-snout, who suddenly stopped short and almost made her handler run over her. Stopping just before trampling the little wyrm the wolf let out an annoyed but glad sigh, "Timegazer! For goodness sakes, put the pebble down and stop running off!" The swirl-snout simpley chirped proudly, wiggled up the wolf's leg & arm and dropped the pebble it her handler paw.

The wolf suddenly looked up to see that there were other handlers around the clearing, embarrased she smiled and sat down quietly to hear what the small feline wyrm was saying. As the wolf was listening Raven perched herself on the wolf's head and stared coldly at the other himo alpha(s), as if her ranking in her clan was their fault. Finally the feline was done talking, he seemed to be waiting for the wolf to ask something....

"Well.... I guess since thats all you know about Himos, I'll ask a diffrent question." After a bit of thinking she thought of somthing to say, "Could you tell me a bit more about swirl-snouts? Ive noticed that all their swirls are diffrent. And where did they come from?" In a very quite whisper, mostly talking to herself she said, "i like to think they fell from space because they have two colored eyes and well, their swirls..." She calmly waited for an answer. But Timegazer had tried to start play with Raven, who at the moment was being grumpy. This resulted in Raven snapping at Time, and Time almost falling off her handlers head.

I look around myself everyday and realize the days are passing so fast everythings left as a blur in my mind.

Chuck smiled at the wolf and responded with a grin."Actually, Swirl snouts are very much of this earth. Being of the Crystal Type, they are very connected to the deeper parts of the earth, where minerals and metals are formed into precious stones. Like all Crystal wyrms, the color of their crystal denotes what type of gems these wyrms consume. While they can and do eat all manner of vegetation, fruits and nuts, Crystal wyrms must also consume bits of their gem type to maintain their gem's color and stability. We aren't 100% sure how it works, but I think it's a bit like certain types of birds. Some birds swallow small stones, which are kept in their gizzard to help grind up their food to aid in digestion. I believe it's much the same for Crystal wyrms. And in the process, the stones themselves are worn away and ground up, dispersing throughout the wyrms body and helping to provide vital minerals for their gems to help them regenerate. A Crystal wyrm without access to their gem becomes a dull, sorry looking creature indeed. As for the Swirls, their marking seems to be exterior veins of their mineral, showing itself as swirling, twisting markings on their faces. It's why Alphas have such extensive marking, and Omega so little. The omega have very little access to their needed minerals, and so their swirl exposes the lack of excess mineral stored within their bodies.

Shiverbug entered the garden with her small squirm, having caught the last pieces of conversation to occur. She found somewhere shady to sit and listen for a piece - she was much to excited to speak right away. The place felt so magical, so beautiful, with all the different sized Wyrms playing, or arguing, or preening amongst the lovely foliage, with the backdrop of the waterfall... it was almost overwhelming in it's majesty. Shiver busied shaking hands by petting Inugami, one of her Gao-Xing's, who had decided to take a nap on her knee. She waited for a lull in the ongoing conversations, shook off her case of nerves, and addressed the feline Wyrm.

"Hi, Chuck," here, she smiled bashfully, thinking that such a common nicknamed was somewhat humorous for such a seemingly important figure here, "while we are on the topic of different Wyrm breeds, I would love to know more about the Gao-Xings. I've heard a few things, I would like to see if the information is accurate, and if you would elaborate farther on them. See, I heard all Gao-Xings are blind, even the 'open eyed' variety. Is that true? I want to know, because... well..."

Here, Shiver faltered slightly, she hated to be a bore or ramble on to much, but noticing her hesitation, Aughra - the lone Swirl Snout in this squirm, with her thinning fur and battle scars - squiggled up to Shiver's shoulder and nipped gently but firmly on Shiver's ear lobe, as if to say "Quit stalling, child. Go on." Shiver reached up to scratch the matriarch beneath her chin, and continued.

"The Gao-Xing were among the first in my squirm, and I wonder - no, I believe there was a reason for that. Early in my adulthood, I had a problem with first one eye, then a few years later I had problems with the other eye, and I had to have several surgeries to keep from going blind myself. Oh, I'm fine right now, don't worry, just some silly side effects, and fingers crossed the retina's -stay- attached from now on." Here, Shiver waved both her hands vigorously, as if to wave away any concern the others may have, pushing a bashful smile on her face as her adamant hand gestures actually unseated poor Inugami and he toppled off her knee. Tengu, another Gao-Xing, squiggled up to Inugami to make sure he was unhurt, then convinced his buddy to play a game of chase around Shiver's seated body. Shiver continued, "I don't think it was coincidence I was drawn to this breed, before I even knew about their inherent blindness. Or, is it, they drew me in? Anyway, sorry, I'm babbling. My questions: have the Gao-Xing always been blind, or did they lose sight with their eyes? If they lost sight, what were the circumstances? I guess I just really want to know more of their history. And, does the loss of sight bother them? They all seem to have such happy faces, but I wonder, do they regret not being able to see with their eyes?"

Questions voice, Shiver plucked Aughra from her shoulder and pet the soft black and white fur to hide the nervousness in her hands. She doubted she was making a very good first impression. Aughra tolerated the ruse and snuggled against Shiver's chest. The unofficial matriarch of the squirm might be ornery, with a no-nonsense exterior, but she was not unkind.

One afternoon the white wolfess and her cub and small squirm decided to take a walk to the park along the way the saw a new and interesting path to fallow as they were walking along the smallest of the wyrms a purple teaspoon male named Romeo starts meeping loudly and squiggles down off the head of his handler and down to her hand hopping up and down trying to grab her attention, her other two wyrms a female teacup green leaf crawler named bonzai and a red male teacup bright darter named Arnook both start to see what was exciting the smaller male and both hop down from the shoulders of their handler's young cub who they had been watching curiously as he had fallen asleep in the stroller, and they squiggled over to a small shiny pebble meeping very excitedly at their handler to pick it up. As The wolfess leaned down to pickup the interesting stone suddenly the path around them swirled and they appeared in a strange new place the looking around the wolfess notices that she is not alone and there are a lot of other handler's in this place. All being addressed one by one by a small feline wyrm. Just coming in on the tail end of the last question she waits for the feline to respond to the other handler before asking what she needs to know about how to care for her small squirm especially things like what to feed them and what breeds are ok to keep together and what not to give them.

The little feline opened his mouth as if to respond to the newcomers questions, and suddenly froze in place, eyes seeming to glow with an unearthly light."What...... he whispered, seemingly to himself. "It's finally happening!?...."

Chuck seemed to shake himself out of the semi trance, and looked around at the gathered Handlers and their Wyrms. His fur almost appeared to have an aura of light emanating from it, and when he spoke, his voice boomed much louder and deeper than would seem possible for a Wyrm so small.

"Congratulations, Wyrm Handlers! Perhaps what I feared will not come to pass. Through your efforts, the very first Dreamcatcher eggs have come into being." As he spoke, a soft, gentle glow began to pulse on the ground in front of him, and two incredibly beautiful, sparkling white eggs materialized in the lush grash. They glowed with an inner light and seemed to banish any shadows near them. Chuck's smile was almost paternal as he looked down at them, then his face grew grim as he looked back at the gathering.

"You could not possibly know how vital these bright lights are. I've spoken briefly of the Nightmare Gate, but have not told you everything. That ends tonight. You have a right to know exactly what you fight for."

As he spoke, shadows closed in around the edges of the Glade, almost as if they had some malevolent purpose. The lit runes on the gate marking the Nightmares that had been born glowed with a sickly hue. Chuck took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"The Abyssal Gate opening will create a wave of madness thats sweeps through the wyrm population. Anyone with a Wyrm that has the infection known as Pitch Black, or a nightmare wyrm in their squirm will have, in essence, a supernatural 'conduit' to the madness in their squirm. What this means is that for every single breeding season hereafter, there is a chance the madness will enter your homes. Of the three possible outcomes, none are good, and some will have horrific and lasting consequences.*

Should the madness not gain full access, your squirms will be plagued with horrible nightmares. Their deepest fears will haunt them, and will weaken their connection to the Earth energy that sustains them. Over time this will drain their spirit and they will become a shell of their former selves, unable to experience any kind of peace.

If the madness is able to infect parent wyrms, it will twist their natures and cause them to consume their eggs, destroying the next generation. The psychological repercussions of this would be considerable, and these poor wyrms would almost certainly be traumatized.

The worst outcome, however, would be madness fully infecting the egg of the young wyrm. Their spirit would become a warped and twisted thing, a gibbering creature of darkness and insanity. I have only had visions of such creatures, and I can promise you, they are nothing you would ever want to encounter. Like the Nightmares that enabled their spawning, they are unable to breed, and are incapablen of emotions such as joy, compassion, or kindness. They feed only on the madness and suffering they cause in others, and would destroy a squirm if not contained.

Clearly, this is a catastrophe to be avoided at all costs. The way to prevent the Gate from opening is difficult, but can be accomplished IF you all join the fight."

Taking a breath, Chuck continued.

"Leyline is the opposite of Nightmares, in every possible way. They are the light that fights back the shadows. As such, every Dreamcatcher bred will, in essence, 'cancel out' a Nightmares power. So since each common Type Nightmare is the key to a lock to open the gate, each Dreamcatcher hatched will neutralize a Nightmare 'Key'. The Nightmare locks cannot be reopened, so if enough Dreamcatchers are hatched to block all of the keys, the Gate closes. Permanantly. Our world is safe from elder horrors, and wyrms will live free of the madness it would have released."

The little feline wyrm looks over all the assembled Handlers and Wyrms, and heaves a gusty sigh.

"So now, my friends, the ball is in your court. You have to make a choice. Will you let the shadows open a gateway to darkness and horrors, or will you stand and fight for the Light?"

As Chuck's words sink in, the shadows that had been edging towards the center of the Glade seem to coalesce towards the small wyrm. He looks over his shoulder, and barely has time to utter the word "NO!" before the shadows whip around him in a fury. There is an angry feline yowl of rage and defiance, then the shadows clear...and the Gladekeeper is gone. The Dreamcatcher eggs begin to glow more brightly, chasing away what few lingering shadows remained, and you are all left with the echoing silence of the Glade, and the enormity of the choice you must make.

****By way of compensating Handlers who may have been working/wanting to get their hands on an Abyssal Wyrm. (And because fighting for the Light shouldn't be penalized) I will, if the door is shut, create a very limited number of Abyssal Wyrms. Plot wise, they snuck through a crack in the Gate, but because it closed their powers are void. They will simply be A Cool, Creepy Looking Wyrm to collect. They will be sold via a contest, wherein handlers will have to answer CDF story trivia to test their knowledge and how closely they were paying attention.****

All sound seemed to vanish from the Glade as Shiver sat frozen, Aughra still nestled in her hands. Inugami and Tengu ceased their game of chase and stared in horror at where the tiny feline had once stood. Shard's mouth fell open, dropping the die he had been trying to spirit away. Aughra shook her head, the only calm one of Shiver's squirm, then nipped her handlers knuckle sharply in protest as Shivers grip had slowly tightened. Aughra was the only one who didn't seem in shock, in fact it almost seemed like this was the sad fruition of something Aughra had already foretold. Or maybe she'd just been paying closer attention to the shadows that had thickened as Chuck had spoke.

"Oops, sorry girl," Shiver apologised and loosened her grip on the older wyrm. Shiver quickly gathered her squirm into her arms - or, almost all of them - and staggered closer to the spot Chuck had previously occupied. She was unsure if she should move to help, or run her wyrms to safety. She marvelled at the glowing eggs, and there seemed nothing sinister about the shadows beneath the trees any longer, surely they were safe now. Surely?

"Chuck?" Shiver called. "Chuck, please answer, if you can!" Shiverbug trembled with fear, remembering the yowl the feline had let out as he'd been surrounded. But she wasn't sure if she trembled in fear for the little wyrm, or in surprise of the might behind the cats final cry. Ashimagari, the Alpha Gao Xing and leader of Shiver's squirm took up the call, meeping as loudly as her little voice would carry. The cry was taken up by first the other Gao in Shivers squirm, then the Swirl Snouts, the lone Bright Darter, the Shrieker, all calling for Chuck's reappearance.

All, but two.

Aughra just sat, watching and absorbing all around her, keeping a mental record, as was her self appointed task.

And Kern. The black Gao Xing peered from behind Shivers ankle, a most wicked and pleased smile splitting his tiny face.